News from Indiewire Television

[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from “Fresh Off the Boat” Season 4, Episode 10, “Do You Hear What I Hear?,” the first season of Netflix’s “One Day at a Time” and Season 2 of Disney Channel’s “Andi Mack.”]

“What up, girl. You gay?

You play any instruments?

Holla back at me.”

That eloquent haiku, scrawled on a coffee cup, is one of the first, albeit clumsy, attempts by “Fresh Off the Boat” character Nicole (Luna Blaise) to figure out what it means to live as a gay individual. Coming out has been an incremental process for her this season, and in Tuesday’s episode, she’s taking the next step. After developing a crush on a local barista at HotJava, Nicole considers communicating in poetry via paper cup to determine if the feeling is mutual.

“Effective today, PBS has indefinitely suspended distribution of ‘Tavis Smiley,’ produced by Ts Media, an independent production company,” PBS said in a statement to Variety, which first broke the news. “PBS engaged an outside law firm to conduct an investigation immediately after learning of troubling allegations regarding Mr. Smiley. This investigation included interviews with witnesses as well as with Mr. Smiley. The inquiry uncovered multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS, and the totality of this information led to today’s decision.”

Helloooo-oooo! Doug Jones pulled off an upset win last night, becoming Alabama’s first Democratic senator in more than 20 years in the process. “Twin Peaks” fans, well aware that the newest member of Congress (almost) shares a name with one of Kyle MacLachlan’s many incarnations on “The Return,” celebrated with an appropriate smattering of gifs, memes, and other jokes.

In 2017, there’s a show for everyone, and typically that’s a good thing. There’s so much demand for fresh content and so many content providers looking to stand out, fresh stories from distinct voices populate an ever-diversifying television landscape. In other words, this is a world that could easily have room for a show where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Jean-Claude Van Damme, a movie star who’s also a highly trained international spy.

But for as nutty as “Jean-Claude Van Johnson” sounds, its execution feels too familiar to earn its spot. Though the story-building in the pilot is clever enough to provide ample opportunity for good old-fashioned fun, too many easy jokes and half-baked movie homages keep the six-episode first season from fulfilling its potential as the sharp meta successor to “Episodes,” “The Comedians,” or even Van Damme’s 2008 film, “Jcvd.”

The Netflix executive who allegedly told a sexual assault victim that the company did not believe multiple claims made against recently ousted “The Ranch” star Danny Masterson has been fired, Vulture reports. The long-simmering allegations against Masterson, which now include four different women who have accused him of rape, recently came to a head after Andy Yeatman, the now-former director of global kids content, denied an alleged victim to her face.

The story was reported by The Huffington Post earlier this month, when one of Masterson’s alleged victims approached Yeatman at a kids soccer game to ask why the streaming giant had not yet cut ties with Masterson. Yeatman then allegedly told the woman, “[W]e don’t believe them,” not realizing she was one of the alleged victims.

The Fox comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” for reasons made obvious by its title, chose to celebrate its 99th episode last week, putting the spotlight on each character during a crazy road trip from Los Angeles to New York. But it also included a big reveal that became a central part of the show’s 100th episode, “Game Night” — Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz), the show’s resident badass, coming out as bisexual.

Rosa’s coming-out, showrunner Dan Goor told IndieWire, was a story choice made in close discussion with Beatriz this season. “In a way, after Stephanie came out, and has really in so many ways become such an Lgbt advocate, we felt like it was really a meaningful opportunity for the character, and it definitely felt in-world for the character. It didn’t feel like, you know, we didn’t feel like people would be like, ‘What?!’ You know, and 100 episodes in it feels like a good,
»

If you have ever wondered how Ruth Langmore (played by Julia Garner) from Netflix’s “Ozark” gets by in the Missouri criminal underworld, you can stop looking. Netflix released a new video on Tuesday afternoon with Garner in character explaining the knots and bolts on how to be a true criminal like Ruth.

Edited with infomercial-type graphics, Ruth instructs people that in order to be a successful criminal, for instance, you need to “learn some goddamn self defense.” Watch the video below to find out the other “trade secrets” that Ruth has so generously disclosed:

Related:Netflix’s ‘Ozark’ Was Most Popular Streaming Show This Summer, According to New Audience Metric

After a deal with a drug cartel goes south, “Ozark” follows financial planner Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) and his family as they are forced to relocate from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Missouri Ozarks. Laura Linney stars
»

“The Handmaid’s Tale” showrunner Bruce Miller knows the show triggered “thousands of discussions” in its inaugural run — and as production continues on Season 2, Miller said he and his team have been paying attention to those conversations.

One major issue for the Emmy-winning Hulu series — nominated Monday for three Golden Globes — was that how to approach racial issues. While Margaret Atwood’s original novel took place in an all-white world (due to the ethnic purging orchestrated by the nightmare nation of Gilead), Miller and Atwood ended up making the decision to incorporate a diverse cast and focus on the treatment of women within this society.

“There was discussion and praise and criticism for how we integrated or dealt with race in Gilead,” he said. “It brought up a lot of questions that just didn’t come up in the stories in Season 1, that we were able to put it in
»

“The Detour” began as two parents recounting a disastrous road trip, but what happens when the road runs out? That’s what Season 3 of the hilarious TBS comedy is all about, as the Parker family finally stops running and settles down.

In the first trailer for Season 3, Nate (Jones), Robin (Natalie Zea), and their two kids (played by Ashley Gerasimovich and Liam Carroll) try to make a home for themselves in small-town Alaska. Spurred on by a mishap involving a snowmobile and a lake — more of a “final straw” kind of deal — the Parkers still can’t slow down while trying to settle down, and the 10 new episodes look just as wild as the first 20.

Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best show currently on TV?” can be found at the end of this post.)

This week’s question: What are your winter holiday season viewing habits (that are not for work)? Do you have traditional go-to shows or movies? Are you looking forward to anything in particular?

Eric Deggans (@deggans), NPR

As I have written in the past, I’m not the kind of critic who loves holiday specials. Too often, they’re too hokey, too commercial, too weird (yes, Bill Murray, I still don’t get “A Very Murray Christmas”) or, in the case of countless Hallmark Channel movies, way too white. But I do have a few holiday media traditions, starting with my Spotify Holiday Tunes playlist, which gets fired up as
»

“Homeland” season seven now has a premiere date and trailer, because America needs to know what Claire Danes will do next, damnit. The political thriller will return on Sunday, February 11. Avail yourself of the trailer below.

Here’s what’s in store this time around: “At the end of last season, following an assassination attempt on her life, President Keane (Elizabeth Marvel) broke her promise to Carrie (Danes) by arresting 200 members of the intelligence community without bringing charges against them, including Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin). As season seven begins, Carrie has left her job in the White House and moved back to D.C. and is living with her sister Maggie (Amy Hargreaves) to take on the Keane administration and secure the release of the 200.”

In the age of peak TV, there’s a lot of bad television out there. But rather than take the time to highlight what everyone should already be forgetting, IndieWire is examining the heartbreaking misses of 2017; the shows that felt like they had something special — either in concept, talent, or early episodes — but failed to fulfill that promise.

For the shows that weren’t cancelled, hope rings eternal. TV is a medium that allows for development, improvement, and the virtual erasure of bad first impressions. The shows below might be a long way from getting good, but their break bad hurt enough that even for the most disappointing, we still hope for the best.

And if you like any shows on the list, then good luck and godspeed. You found something there that we only wish we could have seen. Maybe next year.

After taking a week off for his baby Billy’s latest heart surgery, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host Jimmy Kimmel returned to the late night show — baby Billy in tow — to provide an update to his fans and to call for help in safeguarding another key government program that helps sick kids, just like Billy.

“Daddy cries on TV, but Billy doesn’t, it’s unbelievable,” a teary Kimmel said as he updated the audience on Billy’s latest — successful! — surgery. Guest hosts, including Tracee Ellis Ross, Neil Patrick Harris, and Melissa McCarthy, all filled in for Kimmel last week.

Kimmel also used his introductory monologue to discuss the threatened Chip program, a health insurance program for about nine million American children that, as he notes, “almost certainly covers children that you know.
»

Larry King has hit back at claims that he groped singer and actor Eddie Fisher’s ex-wife, Terry Richard, on two separate occasions in the early aughts. Earlier this week, Richard told Daily Mail TV that King groped her on two different occasions, both at baseball awards dinners held at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

Daily Mail TV reports that Richard “said in the first incident, while posing together for a photo, King slid his hand down her backless dress and rested his fingers in between her butt cheeks…Richard claims the second time was also while they were taking a photo together, and King, now 84, squeezed her butt so hard that it left a large bruise.”

While promoting “One Mississippi” during an appearance on “The View,” star and co-creator Tig Notaro reflected on losing Louis C.K. as a series executive producer last month, a consequence for the sexually harassing behavior he admitted to following a New York Times investigation quoting five accusers.

“It’s a huge relief,” Notaro told the hosts on December 11, explaining that she learned of C.K.’s alleged behavior soon after she sold the series with him attached. “I started publicly trying to distance myself from him almost two years [ago].”

Read More:Tig Notaro Says the Only Positive of Louis C.K.’s Harassment is the ‘Victims Were Not Told They’re Lying’

On November 10, one day after the Times published their story — giving Notaro the last word — FX Networks and FX Productions cancelled its overall deal with C.K.’s production company, Pig Newton, Inc., meaning he would no longer oversee “Better Things,
»

Kath and Dave are two of Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen’s most intense creations. Whether they’re trying to save the human race (after a local power outage) or going out for tapas (and dancing on the table), this couple doesn’t do anything half-assed.

Add escape rooms to the list.

In IndieWire’s exclusive video below, Kath and Dave team up with two strangers to work an escape room. Needless to say, they’re not the best team players, though one could argue their intensity only helps in the end.

The video below is not only a new look at the final season, but the second in a series of videos premiering before the Season 8 debut. IFC and IndieWire are partnering to bring you exclusive sketches from “Portlandia” Season 8. Over the next six weeks,
»

Netflix is notorious for keeping all streaming data hidden from public knowledge, but the company has broken its silence by revealing which shows were the most binged in 2017. Netflix looked at the average daily viewing hours per user from November 2016 to November 2017 to come up with its official “Shows We Devoured” list, which is surprisingly topped by the acclaimed true crime spoof “American Vandal.”

Read More:Why Netflix and Amazon Algorithms Are Destroying the Movies

Series viewed more than two hours per day were considered “devoured,” while those viewed less than two hours a day were categorized as “savored.” The Emmy-winning drama series “The Crown” topped the “Shows We Savored” list, which also included numerous comedy titles such as “Big Mouth,” “Neo Yokio,” “Disjointed,” “Dear White People,” and Glow.” The most-binged list included popular foreign titles like the Brazilian series “3%” and the Mexican political drama “Ingobernable.”

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Mario Batali has been accused of sexual harassment by four women in a new report published by Eater New York. The women have chosen to remain anonymous. The allegations date back two decades and claim that Batali had groped women’s breast and buttocks in the past. Batali responded to the claims by admitting to Eater that the behavior described in the allegations “match up” to past actions.

“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt,” Batali said. “Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain,
»

It’s been somewhat impossible to detangle any critical consideration of Fox’s “The Orville” from “Star Trek,” the franchise to which it’s hard to deny a connection. But even when evaluating “The Orville” on its own merits at the start of Season 1, the first three episodes screened by critics were hard-going, as Seth MacFarlane’s “space adventure” featured a wildly fluctuating tone, major pacing issues, and entire scenes that served only to deliver exposition.

It was enough to inspire a harsh review when the show premiered. But while the problems with those early episodes were numerous, some of them could be attributed to the sort of stumbles that occur at the beginning of any new series.

Since it’s the mid-season finale, basically every named character gets at least one line of dialogue, but the biggest focus is poor ol’ optimistic Carl, who grew a pesky conscience between seasons. And we all know where a conscience gets you on “The Walking Dead.” The episode is titled after one of Carl’s lines of dialogue (in one of those patented, infuriating “Oh, by the way” flashback moments of character development that the show loves to use) where he tries to convince Rick that he should probably start thinking about the world that will exist after the war. But the episode is largely unconcerned with the moral arguments the show’s been raising all season, in favor of a lot of running and shooting (which, fair enough, has also been heavily featured all season). There’s plenty of Carl, but it doesn’t add
»

IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.